Taipei shares close up on Wall St rebound; techs mostly up but AU down

Taipei shares close up on Wall St rebound; techs mostly up but AU down - UPDATE

	Published : Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:03 By : Agencies Print this Story

TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices closed higher following a modest rebound on Wall Street overnight and a pullback in crude oil prices, dealers said.

AU Optronics was lower on profit-taking after its third-quarter results announcement, but other technology majors mostly took their lead from a firmer Nasdaq and Apple Inc's strong fiscal fourth-quarter results, they said.

The weighted index closed up 141.76 points or 1.51 pct at 9,502.39, after moving in the range of 9,419.54 and 9,512.56.

Turnover was 148.45 bln twd.

'Wall Street...is set to remain the key to how Taipei and other regional markets perform,' said a local trader who requested anonymity.

Local technology shares took their lead from the Nasdaq with the prospect of the latter extending its gains tonight in New York on the back of Apple Inc's stronger-than-expected earnings, he said.

In the short term, corporate earnings will dictate the direction of Wall Street and that of Asian bourses, including Taipei, he added.

Risers led decliners 1,477 to 540, with 203 stocks unchanged.

A total of 40 stocks closed limit-up and 11 were limit-down.

The electronics sector closed up 2.14 pct and financials rose 1.59 pct.

The construction sector gained 1.01 pct, plastics/petrochemicals rose 0.65 pct and paper closed up 0.24 pct higher.

The food sector was down 1.35 pct, textiles lost 0.43 pct and cement fell 0.07 pct.

The Taiwan dollar closed the morning at 32.584/dollar, compared with the previous close of 32.570.

AU Optronics closed down 2.40 twd or 3.45 pct at 67.20. The company announced consolidated net profit of 22.57 bln twd for the third quarter yesterday, up from the 5.92 bln achieved in the previous quarter and against 612 mln booked in the year-earlier period.

Although the third-quarter earnings were good, dealers said there was some disappointment over the company's guidance for the fourth quarter.

AU said it expects its shipments of large-sized panels in the fourth quarter to be little changed from the 22.26 mln panels delivered in the third quarter. Shipments of small- and medium-sized panels are seen declining 5 pct sequentially.

Meanwhile, Chi Mei Optoelectronics was up 0.75 twd or 1.77 pct at 43.05 and Innolux was 5.00 twd or 3.51 pct higher at 147.50.

Nanya Technology was down 0.45 twd or 2.12 pct at 20.80 and Inotera fell 0.45 twd or 1.43 pct to 31.05 after the two DRAM makers reported lackluster third-quarter results.

TSMC gained 0.90 twd to 61.50 and UMC was 0.15 higher at 20.55.

Select financial heavyweights also attracted bargain-hunting after yesterday's downturn, with Cathay Financial up 1.60 twd or 2.06 pct at 79.10 and First Financial rising 0.60 twd or 2.57 pct to 23.95.

(1 usd = 32.60 twd)

philip.wang@afxasia.com

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Taipei shares close up on Wall St rebound; techs mostly up but AU down - UPDATE